Chinese buy into Australian gasfield

Friday 24 October 2003 14:06 BST

BEIJING-controlled oil company CNOOC is to buy a 12.5% stake in the Gorgon gasfield off north-western Australia as part of a A$30bn (£12.5bn) deal. Gorgon is jointly owned by Royal/Dutch Shell, ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil. CNOOC will take between 80m and 100m tonnes of gas over 25 years.